It manifests in the same ways as traditional depression, but typically begins at any time during the first year after giving birth.

The main problems with postpartum depression lie in its ability to negatively affect maternal functioning and therefore have the potential to harm the child and its development, as well as the mother.

Indeed, children of mothers affected by postpartum depression can show impairments in cognitive performance, behaviour disturbance and attachment insecurity, while suicide is the second-most frequent cause of maternal mortality in the developed world.

What is being done to combat postpartum depression?

Although many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) still focus on maternal mortality, there is growing recognition that maternal mental health is equally important for good overall health.

Initiatives are already underway in many nations to better identify and treat postpartum depression and help reduce the lack of understanding - and sometimes stigma - surrounding it.

A new approach to treat postpartum depression?

Many approaches towards treating postpartum depression have focused on short-term interventions, which studies have suggested are not particularly effective in bringing about lasting benefits for mothers or children.

The study looked at a group of postpartum women with at least three months' history of depression and randomly allocated them video-feedback therapy (VFT) or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), alongside a lengthy course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Professor Stein said the flexible delivery of 1.5-hour interventions by trained psychologists in women's homes targeting issues such as sleep, routines and self-care were likely to have contributed to these positive outcomes as women navigated difficult infant developmental stages.

"The finding of good maternal and child outcomes shows that excellent results are possible in the context of high quality service provision," the study concluded.

Barriers to service provision

Unfortunately, this type of long-term intervention is not widely available anywhere at present due to the expense and existing pressures on service provision.

However, it may be that finding ways of getting around these barriers to delivery could be key in terms of improving treatment of postpartum depression and significantly boosting maternal health across the globe in the long term.

Other relevant links

Neuroscientists at the Tufts University School of Medicine, US, have generated a novel preclinical model of postpartum depression. In doing so, they have demonstrated the involvement of the neuroendocrine system that mediates physiological response to stress - called the hypothalamic-pituitary-...

Women who give birth in winter or spring are less likely to experience postnatal depression than those who give birth in summer or autumn, according to a new study. The researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, US, also found that other factors influencing the risk of...